People with investment judgment, operating experience and the conviction to build lasting businesses.
Thepeoplebehindtheconviction.
Leadership and investor relationships are built on experience, accountability and long-term alignment.
Matthew Buckingham
Chief Executive Officer & Managing Partner
Matthew leads YVL Capital Partners’ investment strategy and venture studio, drawing on twenty years of building technology businesses across Canada and the Gulf. Previously Vice President at Alice & Smith and Chief Operating Officer at Continuous Ventures in Dubai, he helped scale Alice & Smith into Microsoft’s global PlayFab partner. His experience in the Gulf dates to 2013 and informs YVL’s approach to connecting Canadian technical capabilities with GCC markets, where he leads investment selection and portfolio construction.
Rabih is an entrepreneur with five startups and two exits, and leads company building in YVL’s venture studio. After seven years at L’Oréal, he founded Youville in 2009, grew the agency through its 2016 merger with Haussmann Park, and co-founded Alice & Smith, where he served as Chief Operating Officer. At YVL, he applies that experience in building businesses, brands and teams to founder assessment and the development of new studio companies.
Andrea is YVL’s Chief AI Officer and Chief Executive Officer of NexaOps, with a career spanning software, interactive experiences and AI product development. A co-founder of Alice & Smith, he has founded four companies and completed three technology exits. His work combines the technical decisions involved in building products with the commercial experience of taking technology businesses through growth and exit, a perspective he brings to YVL’s AI investment and venture-building activities.
The venture studio brings together AI and technical development, product execution, investor relations and business operations.
AI & TechTechnical leadership and intelligent workflows.
CapitalInvestment and investor relationships.
ExecutionCompany-building and commercialization.
Team & operations
Adresse Dahnous
Chief Operating Officer
Adresse is YVL’s Chief Operating Officer, with more than fifteen years of experience in commodities trading, logistics and business operations. His career includes senior roles at Hutchison Ports, GILDEMEISTER and Migom Trading, covering business strategy, distribution and revenue growth across metals, agriculture, energy and logistics. Based in the UAE, he has built and managed trading desks across MENA and international markets, bringing direct experience of complex commercial operations to the firm’s day-to-day execution.
Cristelle leads marketing and public relations at YVL, drawing on twenty years of experience in brand communications, media relations and influencer marketing. Her career spans retail, fashion and lifestyle, including roles at Jacob and Youville and experience as a spokesperson in Canadian media. She holds a master’s degree in Strategic Public Relations from the University of Southern California and a commerce degree from Concordia University, combining formal communications training with practical experience building a public voice for businesses.
Dayyan is YVL’s Chief Technology Officer, an AI engineer specialising in autonomous agents and multi-agent systems who leads the engineering of the firm’s AI product builds, from architecture through to production. His experience includes agentic applications that connect models to business information, and the orchestration, workflows and infrastructure needed to run AI systems in production. Working with YVL’s Chief AI Officer and directly with founders, he translates product direction into technical plans, shapes the approach to stack, structure and delivery, and sets the engineering standards for each build.
Sophie leads fundraising and investor relations at YVL, drawing on nearly a decade of experience with sovereign institutions, institutional investors and private clients. She spent four years in Saudi Arabia and served as Investor Relations Manager at the NEOM Investment Office in Riyadh, following roles in product strategy and investor relations within BlackRock’s Real Assets business in London. Earlier, she advised family offices and private clients on real estate investment at Société Générale Private Banking in Paris, experience she now applies to building YVL’s relationships with limited partners.
